Dion Charles denied Barnsley a vital first-leg advantage with a second-half equaliser to earn Bolton a 1-1 draw in their Sky Bet League One play-off semi-final.
The Northern Ireland international scored his 21st league goal just four minutes after Nicky Cadden threatened to put Barnsley in the driving seat for Friday’s return at Oakwell.
The eventual winners will meet Sheffield Wednesday or Peterborough at Wembley for the right to join Plymouth and Ipswich in the Championship next season.
Unlike Posh’s 4-0 hammering of the Owls, this second semi-final – played in front of a crowd of 23,450 – was far cagier.
Barnsley finished one place and five points in front of their hosts after the regular season. But Wanderers enjoyed a more profitable end to the campaign and showed their resilience after falling behind.
The return of captain Mads Andersen after a two-game injury absence boosted Barnsley in this fourth and penultimate meeting between the teams this season.
The corresponding home league fixture ended in a sterile 0-0 draw, Barnsley won the FA Cup duel while Wanderers romped to a 3-0 win at Oakwell on January 2.
Barnsley hope to return to the Championship after just one season away while a Jack Grealish goal for Aston Villa contributed to Wanderers dropping from the second tier in April 2019.
Charles fired high and wide from Elias Kachunga’s cross as Wanderers looked to replicate the whirlwind start from their Papa John’s Trophy triumph against Plymouth.
Liam Kitching blocked defender George Johnston’s effort but it was Barnsley who looked most likely to break the first-half stalemate.
Luca Connell, a former Bolton academy midfielder, drilled a lot shot from distance that James Trafford – in his farewell home appearance – did not hold first time.
Adam Phillips thumped another effort over the crossbar while Manchester City loanee Trafford blocked Slobodan Tedic’s flick.
Devante Cole turned Ricardo Santos but could not direct his attempt on target while Trafford was called into action to save from Cadden.
And it was Cadden who put the Tykes in front with his sixth goal of the campaign after 63 minutes. Wanderers failed to clear a Phillips corner and Cadden fired home from the edge of the area after Cole played the ball back into his path.
Bolton boss Ian Evatt immediately introduced substitutes Dan N’Lundulu and Kieran Lee for Kachunga and Josh Sheehan and within four minutes the home side were level.
Harry Isted had not had a shot to save but when called upon to deal with Randell Williams’ left-wing centre, he could only push the ball towards Charles for the equaliser.
Barnsley shrugged off the disappointment and Bobby Thomas twice went close to restoring the visitors’ advantage.
Andersen then showed his qualities with a vital block from N’Lundulu but neither team could find a crucial second goal.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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